Vines Collier, great-grandfather
of John H. Howard, was born about 1735 in York County, VA. His father was
Isaac Collier who was a grandson of the emigrant Isaac; his mother was
Ann Vines, a daughter of Thomas Vines and Mary Hill. Vines married Sarah
(Sally) Elizabeth Williamson, a daughter of Benjamin Williamson. Unfortunately,
I know nothing further definite about the Williamson family.

The following information
is quoted from Vaughn Ballard's Collier Book, P. 37:

He [Vines] moved with
his father to Brunswick County about 1750. He served as an ensign and lieutenant
in the French and Indian War, and was in the expedition to Fort Duquesne.
Records state that during the Revolution, although he was incapacitated
for active service, he furnished supplies for the Continental Army. Vines
was married in Brunswick County about 1760 to Sarah Elizabeth Williamson,
a daughter of Benjamin Williamson.

Vines Collier moved his
family to Georgia after 1782 and before 1785, settling in Wilkes County
in an area that was later to become Oglethorpe County, on a grant of land
he received for his services in the French and Indian War. His name appeared
on a list of Taxable Property of Inhabitants of Captain Hagan's District
for 1785. He was listed as having 4-1/2 Polls, 7 slaves, and 400 acres
in Wilkes County. His home was about six miles east of Lexington. Vines
Collier died December 7, 1795, and was buried on his plantation in the
old family burying grounds near Salem Church. This church was built on
land that was once part of the plantation. Vines' wife Sarah Elizabeth
is buried by his side. On June 24, 1932, the Daughters of the American
Revolution placed a marker on Vines' grave which reads "Lieutenant Vines
Collier--Virginia Militia--French and Indian Wars." I'm including a picture
from Ballard's book of this DAR marker on Vines' grave. It reads: "Lt.
Vines Collier--Brunswick Co. Mil.-- French and Indian War."

Hening's Statutes at Large,
Vol. 7, 1820 ed., shows that in 1758, during the French and Indian
War, Vines Collier was paid 10£ as an ensign in the Militia of Brunswick
County.

Fort Duquesne was built
by the French in 1754 at the point where the Monongahela and Allegheny
rivers meet to become the Ohio (present-day Pittsburgh). France was in
control of almost half of the land in North America, and French trappers
and traders were endeavoring to connect the northern and southern portions
of their empire by gaining control of the Ohio and Mississippi river valleys.
Of course, the English didn't care for that idea, not liking the French
anyway, and so were eager to get on with the hostilities that had been
brewing between these two countries for years. Already, three English-French
wars had been fought since 1689. Now the fourth was about to begin.

The Colonial and British
soldiers fared rather badly in the first few battles of the French and
Indian War. In 1753, George Washington had been sent to check out the French
situation and tell them to move out of the Ohio Valley. Of course they
didn't. The next year, Washington went back with 150 Virginia militiamen
and had a couple of shoot-outs with the French soldiers from Fort Duquesne.
He was forced to surrender, but allowed to leave the area. The war was
on.

In 1755, General Braddock
led British troops in an expedition to capture Fort Duquesne. He had 2000
men, and many of them were colonial militiamen ("buckskins"). Vines Collier
must have been in this group. The battle proved to be a disaster for the
British and Colonials. George Washington, Braddock's aide, had two of his
horses shot from under him, and Braddock himself was mortally wounded.
I don't know if Vines was in any battles other than this one, or if he
was later included in George Washington's 300 men who helped defend the
frontier after Braddock's defeat, but Vines was listed in the Virginia
militia in 1758.

The British weren't trained
to fight in the wilderness, therefore many of their proper-war techniques
were useless; the "buckskins'', behind-the-tree method of fighting fared
somewhat better. The fighting experience gained by the Colonials, who numbered
about 20,000 under arms by the end of the war, was used by them just a
few years later to fight the British in the American Revolution.

The French and Indian
War, begun in America by Washington's little group of soldiers, spread
to Europe and other countries and became known as the Seven Years' War.
France was on the losing side and was forced to give up her territory in
North America in 1763; however, only fifteen years later, France allied
herself with the Americans against the British in the Revolution.

After the Revolution ended,
many Virginians moved to Georgia. That Vines had moved to Georgia by 1785
is shown by his being a witness to a promissory note dated 25 Feb. 1785
(Wilkes County loose papers). By that date, Vines was about fifty years
old and shows that in 1758, during the French and Indian War, Vines
Collier was paid 10£ as an ensign in the Militia of Brunswick County.

Fort Duquesne was built
by the French in 1754 at the point where the Monongahela and Allegheny
rivers meet to become the Ohio (present-day Pittsburgh). France was in
control of almost half of the land in North America, and French trappers
and traders were endeavoring to connect the northern and southern portions
of their empire by gaining control of the Ohio and Mississippi river valleys.
Of course, the English didn't care for that idea, not liking the French
anyway, and so were eager to get on with the hostilities that had been
brewing between these two countries for years. Already, three English-French
wars had been fought since 1689. Now the fourth was about to begin.

The Colonial and British
soldiers fared rather badly in the first few battles of the French and
Indian War. In 1753, George Washington had been sent to check out the French
situation and tell them to move out of the Ohio Valley. Of course they
didn't. The next year, Washington went back with 150 Virginia militiamen
and had a couple of shoot-outs with the French soldiers from Fort Duquesne.
He was forced to surrender, but allowed to leave the area. The war was
on.

In 1755, General Braddock
led British troops in an expedition to capture Fort Duquesne. He had 2000
men, and many of them were colonial militiamen ("buckskins"). Vines Collier
must have been in this group. The battle proved to be a disaster for the
British and Colonials. George Washington, Braddock's aide, had two of his
horses shot from under him, and Braddock himself was mortally wounded.
I don't know if Vines was in any battles other than this one, or if he
was later included in George Washington's 300 men who helped defend the
frontier after Braddock's defeat, but Vines was listed -in the Virginia
militia in 1758.

The British weren't trained
to fight in the wilderness, therefore many of their proper-war techniques
were useless; the "buckskins'" behind-the-tree method of fighting fared
somewhat better. The fighting experience gained by the Colonials, who numbered
about 20,000 under arms by the end of the war, was used by them just a
few years later to fight the British in the American Revolution.

The French and Indian
War, begun in America by Washington's little group of soldiers, spread
to Europe and other countries and became known as the Seven Years' War.
France was on the losing side and was forced to give up her territory in
North America in 1763; however, only fifteen years later, France allied
herself with the Americans against the British in the Revolution After
the Revolution ended, many Virginians moved to Georgia. That Vines had
moved to Georgia by 1785 is shown by his being a witness to a promissory
note dated 25 Feb. 1785 (Wilkes County loose papers). By that date, Vines
was about fifty years old and had eleven children.

In the 1796 Tax List of
Oglethorpe County, Vines Collier appears with wife Elizabeth Williamson,
and with the remark written in that Vines was a Revolutionary soldier.
That remark probably meant he had contributed goods or money to the war.
(Although Vines had died in December of the previous year, apparently the
tax collector didn't let a little detail like that stop him from putting
Vines on the tax list.)

Dexter Dickens of Thomaston,
GA, said this about Vines Collier: "He was very prosperous, owning much
land and many slaves. His home, built about 1790, is still standing and
incidentally owned by Earnest Howard, being a descendant of William T.
Howard, who purchased it in 1835. No, I don't know if those Howard,
are related to our Howards. I'm including a picture of the house and its
floorplan (from the book by Ava D. Rodgers, ' The Housing of Oglethorpe
County, Georgia, 1790-1860, Tallahassee: Florida State University Press,
1971).

For the descendants and
relatives of John H. Howard and Nancy T. Pasley of Upson County, Georgia

------------------------

GREETINGS: Welcome to
the fifth (and long overdue) newsletter in the series of twelve. This newsletter
goes back another generation to Isaac Collier's father Vines Collier. I'm
including a lineage chart for our Collier line as far back as it has been
traced.

Our Collier family came
to Virginia from England in the mid-1600s. Although ours is one of several
Collier families in early Virginia. records, some researchers think that
all Collier families in early Virginia were related. Our line came first
to York County, which stretches along the southwest shore of the York River,
then later moved to Brunswick County, which is on the North Carolina border
about one hundred miles west of the Atlantic coast.

Several Collier family
histories have been published. One that discusses our particular branch
is a twelve-page booklet presented to the Georgia Archives in 1968 by Mrs.
Frank Benford of Thomaston, GA. I have a photocopy of it, but the printing
is dim and unreadable in places, and some of the information on the
early Collier line isn't correct. The history states, correctly, that the
Colliers of Staffordshire, England, from whom our ancestor Isaac Collier
(the emigrant) came, had a coat of arms.

Other sources of Collier
information include the historical and genealogical magazines of Virginia.
Copies of these Virginia quarterlies can be found in most large libraries.

So far, the best source
of Collier information for us is the book compiled by Vaughn Ballard that
I mentioned in Newsletter No. 4, P. 3. The book is Robert Terrell Collier:
His Ancestors and Descendants. The first forty pages are filled with information
about our direct Collier ancestors. The last part of the book includes
coats of arms, some Collier wills, and a lineage chart. The central portion
of the book diverges from our direct ancestors but is still interesting;
it includes a number of pictures and anecdotes about our distant Collier
cousins who moved on to Texas. (Just speculating: Could Alphonse Howard,
Dumas Howard's bachelor "Uncle Fonza,11 have followed some Collier cousins
to Texas after his mother died when he went there from 1881 to 1896?--See
Newsletter No. 1, p. 2.)

Mr. Ballard has (very
graciously!) allowed me to quote from his book for our newsletter. For
more detailed information on the Colliers, I recommend his book. You may
order directly from him. His address is Family Histories, 2320 Country
Green Lane, Arlington, Texas 76011, phone (817) 277-3281. The price is
$30-00 (postpaid, I think). There's no telling how many years of research
and how many dollars Mr. Ballard has spent gathering his information. I'm
just thankful he did.

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